This application is based on and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-34163 filed on Feb. 12, 2002.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat air conditioning system installed in a vehicle occupant seat.
2. Description of Related Art
Various vehicle seat air conditioning systems have been proposed. One such a vehicle seat air conditioning system has an electric heater and a blower unit installed in a vehicle occupant seat. In this vehicle seat air conditioning system, an exterior cover member of the seat can be directly heated by the electric heater, and air (warm air), which is heated by the electric heater, can be blown outwardly through outlet openings of the exterior cover member of the seat.
In the previously proposed seat air conditioning system, a heater manipulating member for adjusting a heating power of the electric heater installed in the seat is provided separately from a blower manipulating member for adjusting an air flow rate of the blower unit installed in the seat, so that the operation of the seat air conditioning system is not simple.
Furthermore, in the vehicle, due to limitation imposed by a balance between the amount of charged electricity, which is charged in a vehicle battery by a vehicle electric generator, and the amount of discharged electricity, which is discharged from the vehicle battery, the heating power of the electric heater installed in the seat is normally set to a relatively small value, i.e., about 60 to 90 W. Thus, when an excessively high air flow rate, which is excessive with respect to the heating power of the electric heater, is set, the cold air, which has not been sufficiently heated, is blown to a vehicle occupant seated on the seat. As a result, the occupant experiences cold sensation, deteriorating feeling of warmness of the vehicle occupant.
The present invention addresses the above disadvantages. Thus, it is an objective of the present invention to improve manipulability of a vehicle seat air conditioning system, which includes an electric heater and a blower unit installed therein.
It is another objective of the present invention to prevent deterioration of feeling of warmness induced by blowing cold air from a seat that has the seat air conditioning system.
To achieve the objectives of the present invention, there is provided a seat air conditioning system for a vehicle occupant seat that is placed in a passenger room of a vehicle and includes at least one exterior cover member, which forms an occupant contacting surface of the seat for contacting with a vehicle occupant and has a plurality of outlet openings penetrating through the exterior cover member. The seat air conditioning system includes at least one electric heater and at least one blower unit, which are disposed inside the seat. Each electric heater heats a corresponding one of the at least one exterior cover member of the seat, and each blower unit blows air through the outlet openings of a corresponding one of the at least one exterior cover member. The seat air conditioning system further includes a single manipulating means for manipulating the at least one electric heater and the at least one blower unit. The single manipulating means is disposed inside the passenger room and is manually manipulatable. A variable heating power command signal, which commands increasing or decreasing of a heating power of each corresponding electric heater, and a variable flow rate command signal, which commands increasing or decreasing of an air flow rate of each corresponding blower unit, are generated through adjustment manipulation of the single manipulating means in synchronism with movement of the single manipulating means.